Microsoft Office for iPad Coming 'Sooner Than Most Think'

Microsoft has been rumored for a number of years to be bringing its Office productivity suite to the iPad, and according to a new report from ZDNet, it is coming "sooner than most think." Sources have indicated to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley that Office for iPad may even arrive before the "touch first" Windows version that had been reported to be leading the way.

But I hear Ballmer and the senior leaders of the company may have had a change of heart towards the end of last year. According to one of my contacts, Ballmer OK'd the suggestion by the Office team that they'd bring Office for iPad to market as soon as it was ready, even though that would likely mean before the Windows 8 version. I'm hearing that new date for Office for iPad is some time in the first half of calendar 2014. (My sources last summer were hearing Office for iPad wouldn't debut until Fall 2014.)

Foley notes that it is still unclear in exactly what form Office for iPad will arrive, but it will presumably involve Microsoft's Office 365 subscription service and potentially integrate with the company's OneDrive cloud storage. The company currently offers an iPhone app that offers viewing and limited editing capabilities, with the available free of charge but requiring an Office 365 subscription.

Sorry guys but Office was and is the gold standard for Productivity software. And contrary to some "assertions" people have not moved on from it at all. Office 365 has been a monster hit and companies and professionals have in fact been dropping garbage like Google Docs like hotcakes especially after it became clear that Google is indeed spying on users.

iWork is not usable productivity software as evidenced by the vast majority of Mac users who need Productivity wind up just buying Office for Mac. That is part of why iWork became free - most did not consider it worth paying anything for. And other "solutions" like OpenOffice are flat out crud.

Office for iOS will be here this year. Not years down the road. And yes Office Mac 2014 is also coming - remember Microsoft follows a "tick tock" with Office where Office Mac follows Office by a year.

Welcome to MacRumors. How has your company changed since Satya Nadella took over?

Sorry guys but Office was and is the gold standard for Productivity software. And contrary to some "assertions" people have not moved on from it at all. Office 365 has been a monster hit and companies and professionals have in fact been dropping garbage like Google Docs like hotcakes especially after it became clear that Google is indeed spying on users.

iWork is not usable productivity software as evidenced by the vast majority of Mac users who need Productivity wind up just buying Office for Mac. That is part of why iWork became free - most did not consider it worth paying anything for. And other "solutions" like OpenOffice are flat out crud.

Office for iOS will be here this year. Not years down the road. And yes Office Mac 2014 is also coming - remember Microsoft follows a "tick tock" with Office where Office Mac follows Office by a year.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.